September 13, 2004
WESTERN WAKE REGIONAL WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
FACILITIES COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
PURPOSE
To articulate the processes and activities required to ensure that all legal requirements for the
project’s public information and public notice are met.
GOALS
- Plan, design and construct facilities in accordance with the regulatory requirements mandated
by the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission.
- Support the orderly, planned, and necessary extension of infrastructure to better serve
existing as well as future citizens and businesses in the service area.
- Give potentially affected property owners ample notice of the likelihood of infrastructure
extension on and near their property.
- Raise awareness and understanding of the facts of the project by anticipating and
addressing communications issues in advance of misleading or inaccurate information
being disseminated.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Six Wake County local governments worked together from May 2002 to July 2004 to evaluate
options for providing long-term wastewater management services for western Wake County.
As a result of the evaluation effort, four local governments have elected to proceed with the
construction of regional wastewater management facilities to serve wastewater needs of
western Wake County to the year 2030. These “Partners” include the Towns of Apex, Cary,
Holly Springs, and Morrisville. The period of time required to study, locate, design, permit, and
construct the new facilities will span from 2004 to 2011 and include several points during which
the Partners must meet specific public information and notification requirements. This
communications plan articulates the communications approach to be taken by the Partners.
KEY PUBLICS
Specific groups that will be targeted by this communications plan include but may not be limited to:
§ Water and sewer rate payers for each Partner
§ Owners of property being considered for infrastructure location
§ Neighboring property owners
§ Partner staffs, elected officials, and consultants
§ Wake, Chatham, and Harnett County Commissioners, State Legislators, and
Congressional Members
§ Cape Fear Basin residents, staffs, and elected officials
§ DENR Staff
§ NC EMC
§ US EPA
§ US Army Corps of Engineers
§ Environmental organizations
§ Regional media
KEY TOPICS
Information most likely to be presented to groups at some point in the public information
process includes:
§ History of Wake County wastewater services relevant to this project and the service
area to be served by the new facilities
§ How wastewater treatment works
§ How wastewater services are regulated in NC
§ Partners’ performance in wastewater management to date, including NPDES permit
compliance and sanitary sewer overflows
§ Regulatory requirements leading to the necessity of the project
§ Alternatives that have been evaluated
§ Costs, savings, and benefits of the project, including grants and loans and utility rate
impacts for typical customers
§ Discussion of any required inter-local agreements
§ Growth and development projections used to plan the infrastructure needs
§ Legal process of and schedule for the project—local, state, and federal
§ Environmental protection requirements for new project
§ Water conservation measures and water reuse measures
§ Governmental roles in the project, including project evaluation and review, permitting,
right of way acquisition
§ How to get involved
RESEARCH
Conduct secondary data analysis—such as a review of Frequently Asked Questions, Email,
media coverage--from previous and related Partner projects—such as Cary’s 2000 proposed
western plant—to anticipate and address communications issues in advance of misleading or
inaccurate information being disseminated.
STRATEGY
Utilize a mix of publicity and advertising tailored to each group with the appropriate messages
in accordance with state and federal public information/public notice requirements.
TACTICS
Information vehicles most likely to be utilized in the communication of information to groups include:
§ Public meetings
§ Small group meetings
§ Utility bills, bill inserts, and newsletters—such as the Town of Cary’s BUD
§ Cary TV 11, including Bud-TV, Matrox spots, and bulletin board messages
§ Media relations, including news releases, news conferences, public service
announcements, advertising, letters to the editor, and talking points
§ Internet, including special Web section with new URL linked to by all Partners and an
Electronic Mailing List Subscription Service
§ Partner staff, elected officials, and consultants
§ Recorded telephone messages, such as 24-Hour Town Hall telephone message
lines
§ Paycheck stuffers
§ Employee newsletters
§ Emails
§ Direct mail
§ Employee staff meetings
§ Speakers Bureau
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
In addition to the local, state, and federal publicity and advertising requirements relative to
siting and operating new wastewater management facilities in North Carolina’s Cape Fear Basin
(such as newspaper ads and letters to property owners), the Partners will use the
following activities to help achieve the project’s communication goals. Unless otherwise
specified, these activities will fall to the Town of Cary as the project’s lead agency.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Conduct a minimum of two public meetings for the project with at least 30-day notification.
The first public meeting will be convened as an open house or public information event that will
be made available to the general public and all interested parties. The purpose of the first
public forum will be to present an overview of the proposed project and announce that an EIS
process is being initiated for the project. The second public forum will be convened as a formal
public hearing to receive comments from the general public and all interest parties on the Draft
EIS and 201 Facilities Plan. A copy of the Draft EIS and 201 Facilities Plan will be available for
review by the public at least 15 days prior to the second public forum.
REGIONAL WASTEWATER PROGRAM EMAIL SERVICE
Develop and implement a free subscription-based service to which anyone can register on the
project’s Web site to be notified of any issues, meetings, milestones, or other relevant
information.
WEB SECTION
Develop and maintain a detailed Web section about the project that includes but may not be
limited to the following sections: Overview, Schedule, Frequently Asked Questions, Reports &
Publications, Video, Email Subscription, History, and Contacts. As this new Web section will
serve as the official and primary depository for project information, all partners will link their
Web sites to the project Web site.
CARY TV 11 BULLETIN BOARD
Because of its reach into Western Wake County, place on Cary TV 11 notices of all public
meetings and milestone announcements.
MEDIA RELATIONS
Work with the media to disseminate accurate information and correct misinformation in a timely
fashion. Since most citizens get their information from regional television and newspapers, it
will be efficient and cost-effective to issue news releases to all regional media about all public
meetings and project milestones. These releases, along with information on the special Web site,
will enable the media to write and fact check articles produce stories.
SPEAKERS BUREAU
Develop “canned” presentations surrounding certain project milestones to be given by the
Project Team as needed to interested community groups.
VIDEO
Consider creating a short video detailing the project to be loaded onto the project’s Web site
as well as played regularly on Cary TV 11 and used during public presentations.
TIMELINE
2004-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUG Web section development begins, including researching new URL
Cary begins drafting proposed communications plan for project
SEP Draft plan reviewed by Partners
Final plan developed and approved by Partners
Web section activated
Partners link their Web site to new section
NOV Publicity created for January Information Open House
DEC Publicity rolled out for January Information Open House
2005-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAN Open House (Jan 31 target)
FEB Results of open house posted on Web
JUN Publicity created for August Public Hearing
JUL Publicity rolled out for August Public Hearing
AUG Public Hearing for EIS/201 Facilities (Aug 19 target)
SEP Results of public hearing posted on Web
BUDGET
Estimated “hard” costs for the proposed activities are detailed as follows. Please note that
these costs do not reflect the additional staff time necessary to conduct such activities.
Communications Plans, Email $-0-
Service, Enhanced Web Section,
Cary TV Bulletin Board, Media
Relations
Legal notices in newspapers $1,000 annually
westernwakepartners.org URL $40 annually
Direct Mail $250 annually
Video $2,000 annually
COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES FOR SECONDARY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACT
MITIGATION PLANS
The Partners are currently working with DENR to develop individual Secondary and Cumulative
Impact Mitigation Plans which will be referenced by the EIS for the regional wastewater
facilities. The Mitigation Plans, along with Memoranda of Understanding between DENR and
each Partner, will fulfill environmental documentation requirements for secondary and
cumulative impacts related to planned water, sewer and transportation infrastructure projects
which may facilitate growth. The primary interested parties for this process are regulatory
agencies and, potentially, environmental groups. Regulatory agency comments are being
handled through DENR with a process similar to that for an EIS but approximately 6 months
ahead of the EIS process for the wastewater facilities.
Communication activities for the Mitigation Plan process are:
NOV ‘04 Environmental Interest Group meetings
NOV ‘04 Publicity created for January, 2005, Public Hearing(s)
DEC ‘04 Publicity rolled out for January, 2005, Public Hearing(s)
JAN ‘05 Public Hearing(s) for Secondary and Cumulative Impact Mitigation Plans
(Jan 21 target)
The environmental group meetings and public hearing(s) for the Mitigation Plans will be led by
DENR with support from each partner as needed for their individual Mitigation Plan.
|